Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Social Media Blitz!

May 2012 Contest Prizes:

1st Place: Ceramic Water Filter / Bug Out Bottle – comparable to Berkey systems – courtesy of Homespun Environmental.  This self-contained filter comes in a handy BPA-free bottle that can filter out bacteria, sediment, chemicals, and more, and is good for over 200 fill-ups before changing the inexpensive filter element!  That’s approximately 60 days worth of clean water!  And of course, I’ll throw in a bumper sticker!

Approximate value: $25.00

-

2nd Place: Multi-pack of non-GMO, heirloom seeds, courtesy of my good friends at PatriotSeedStore.com!  I will also toss in two TruthisTreason.net Bumper Stickers!

Approximate value: $20.00

-

3rd Place: Five TruthisTreason.net Bumper Stickers! Stick them on your car, your house, your dog, your laptop… but whatever you do, don’t place them in unauthorized areas, such as the sides of government buildings, street signs, public restrooms, your friend’s car, or anywhere else that they would surely attract attention.  *Ahem*

How to Win the Truth is Treason.net Social Media Blitz -

This contest is easy to win and doesn’t cost a thing, except a few minutes of your time!...

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: Democracy Now, via Cryptogon

In his first television interview since he resigned from the National Security Agency over its domestic surveillance program, William Binney discusses the NSA’s massive power to spy on Americans and why the FBI raided his home after he became a whistleblower. Binney was a key source for investigative journalist James Bamford’s recent exposé in Wired Magazine about how the NSA is quietly building the largest spy center in the country in Bluffdale, Utah. The Utah spy center will contain near-bottomless databases to store all forms of communication collected by the agency, including private emails, cell phone calls, Google searches and other personal data.

Binney served in the NSA for over 30 years, including a time as technical director of the NSA’s World Geopolitical and Military Analysis Reporting Group. Since retiring from the NSA in 2001, he has warned that the NSA’s data-mining program has become so vast that it could “create an Orwellian state.” Today marks the first time Binney has spoken on national television about NSA surveillance.

Related: Coming Soon: Retroactive Surveillance on Anyone...

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: Anti-War

After Google played a central role in the campaign in rallying the public against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R – MI) claims that Google is secretly supporting the bill many are calling “SOPA 2.”

Hayden’s Note:

You can file this one under, “Duh!”  Google recently tried appealing to the common man and acting as though they were staunchly against CISPA.  I’ve learned to distrust any mega-corporation, especially one that has such bedroom-ties to the NSA, cyber-security, politics, and an endless checkbook… especially when they can profit handsomely from getting the bill passed.

“They’ve been helpful and supportive of trying to find the right language in the bill,” Rogers said of Google, who declined to comment one way or the other on the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), the new bill.

The bill aims primarily at the sharing of private information, empowering the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to collect data from private companies on anything they decide is a “cyber threat.”

Read More…...

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: PhysOrg

Eighty-eight percent of Americans now own a cell phone, forming a massive network that offers scientists a wealth of information and an infinite number of new applications. With the help of these phone users — and their devices’ cameras, audio recorders, and other features — researchers envision endless possibilities for gathering huge amounts of data, from services that collect user data to monitor noise pollution and air quality to applications that build maps from people’s cell phone snapshots.

…

Researchers can’t force mobile users to behave in a certain way, but researchers at Northwestern University have found that they may be able to nudge users in the right direction by using incentives that are already part of their regular mobile routine.

“We can rely on good luck to get the data that we need, or we can ‘soft control’ users with gaming or social network incentives to drive them where we want them,” Bustamante said.

In the paper, “Crowd Soft Control: Moving beyond the Opportunistic,” Bustamante and his group designed a way to “soft control” people’s movements by tapping into games or social networking applications....

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Iran wants war… look how close they put their country to our military bases.

…I hope you note the sarcasm here.  Several of my Facebook fans apparently couldn’t.  And as I told them, “If you support war between nations, do us both a favor: unfriend me.”...

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

I just finished up a short intro for the upcoming – and improved – YouTube Channel for TruthisTreason.net!

Let me know what you think.  It’s nothing too special.  My forte is firearms – not video composition!

By the way, the January Contest is nearing an end!  Hurry and submit your entry to win a lot of great prizes!...

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: Technology Review

A trawl of Chinese crowdsourcing websites—where people can earn a few pennies for small jobs such as labeling images—has uncovered a multimillion-dollar industry that pays hundreds of thousands of people to distort interactions in social networks and to post spam.

The report’s authors, at the University of California, Santa Barbara, also found evidence that crowdsourcing sites in the U.S. are similarly dominated by ethically questionable jobs. They conclude that the rapid growth of this way of making money will make paid shills a serious security problem for websites and those who use them around the world.

Ben Zhao, an associate professor of computer science at UCSB (and a TR35 winner in 2006), started looking into the largely uncharted crowdsourcing industry in China… Zhao was intrigued to see a lot of relatively sophisticated attempts to send spam and promote brands by users that appeared to be working with specific agendas.

When he and colleagues investigated the source of that activity, the team was surprised by what it found, says Zhao: “Evil crowdsourcing on a very large scale.” Influencing public opinion with fake “grassroots” activity is known as astroturfing, leading Zhao to coin the term “crowdturfing,” since it is done via large crowdsourcing sites....

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: InfoWars

The wave of civil unrest that has swept the globe over the past year has prompted the Department of Homeland Security to step up its monitoring of Twitter and other social networks in a bid to pre-empt any sign of social dislocation within the United States.

“Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Caryn Wagner said the use of such technology in uprisings that started in December in Tunisia shocked some officials into attention and prompted questions of whether the U.S. needs to do a better job of monitoring domestic social networking activity,” reports the Associated Press.

Wagner announced that the federal agency would implement new guidelines that would focus on “gleaning information from sites such as Twitter and Facebook for law enforcement purposes.”

Under the new framework, when the department receives information about a “potential threat,” it will then ask its contractors to look for relevant search references using “open source” information.

Although it’s somewhat naive to think that Homeland Security wasn’t already scanning the likes of Facebook and Twitter for social trends and signs of civil unrest, the fact that its now being announced publicly illustrates the increasing concern that riots which have hit the Middle East and Europe over the last 18 months will soon manifest themselves inside the United States....

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: SHTF Plan

If you believe Ben Bernanke and his merry band of money printers don’t care about what you think, then consider the latest product development proposal from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. According to RFP (Request for Proposal) 6994, the Fed intends to build a real-time monitoring solution capable of mining and aggregating data across social networks like Facebook and Twitter, alternative news web sites and blogs, video sharing web sites, and mainstream media outlets.

Not only do they care about what you think, they want to know exactly who you are, what language you speak, who you’re talking to, where you’re getting your information, who you are sharing it with, and what your sentiment and emotional state is in reference to that specific moment.

Hayden’s Note:

I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that I would be tagging an article under both Social Networking and Federal Reserve categories in the same post.  Interesting....

Kevin Hayden – TruthisTreason.net

Source: CBC via Cryptogon

Executives from Facebook, Twitter and Canadian BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. are meeting the British government and police Thursday in the wake of the riots to discuss how to prevent social networks from being used to plot violence.

Police and politicians claim young criminals used Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry’s simple and largely cost-free messaging service to co-ordinate looting sprees during riots in England this month, and Prime Minister David Cameron has said police and intelligence services are looking at whether there should be limits on the use of social media sites or services like BlackBerry Messenger in times of disorder.

…...

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

Source: Infowars

The British government is frantically throwing out proposals in the wake of three days of rioting in the country following the murder of a man by police.

Political demonstrators are sprayed with dye in Uganda.

In addition to shutting down Twitter and BlackBerry messaging during civil disturbances, the government is suggesting rioters be sprayed with dye.

The tactic was used in apartheid South Africa against protesters. In 1989, the government deployed a water cannon to indiscriminately spray dye on anti-apartheid demonstrators who would then be later identified and arrested for the crime of marching on parliament. The incident became known as the “Purple Rain Protest.”

Other governments have used brightly colored dye to mark and arrest people. The tactic has been used in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, Hungary, Bangladesh, Uganda, South Korea and Indonesia.

“The police should look at all available technologies and keep abreast of all potential developments here and in other countries to make sure they arrest as many people as possible,” said British PM David Cameron when questioned about the tactic....

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

Source: Brandon Turbeville

With the increase in propaganda being pushed by the mainstream media government police state agencies regarding “right wing extremists” and “domestic terrorists,” many are no longer surprised when law enforcement or government agents single out individuals or groups that may express controversial or unpopular points of view, or even points of view that are simply critical of government or its agents.

Most people are content to accept the fact that these types of free speech violations happen but that they happen somewhere else like New York or Los Angeles where any number of things can happen on any given day.

However, some South Carolina residents are receiving a wake-up call today, as police in Kershaw County have been placed on alert for “people out there that might want to hurt them.” The reason for the alert? An article that was posted to a Facebook page and an individual that “liked” it.

The article, entitled “When Should You Shoot A Cop?” was published by CopBlock.org, an organization that promotes transparency and accountability of law enforcement....

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

I’ve decided to do something a bit different with my Social Networking category.  I had done away with it for the most part, but decided to revive it in a new form.  Instead of exclusively focusing on news and politics as it relates to social networking sites, I’ve decided to use it as the name implies – networking.  When social networking really debuted, it was intended to connect people with similar networks – or circles.  It was designed to help people move up in the world or put others in touch with someone that could help.  It connected photographers with models, technicians to people with problems and managers to employees.

I am going to pick random people, projects and events to showcase and hopefully help their cause or product.  As cliche as it sounds, I got into police work due to my passion for helping others.  Maybe this will help some people out in this tough economy!

Today’s Showcased ‘Person, Place or Thing’

Etsy.com Featured Seller – Sea Pinks

Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hi, I’m Jenny Hall and I’ve lived most of my life in historic Fredericksburg, Virginia....

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

Source: The Daily Bell

The Economist magazine is out with an article entitled “The end of mass media: Coming full circle.” It actually provides us with a kind of sub-dominant social theme – that “social media” take us back to the pamphleteering days of Samuel Johnson, Ben Franklin, Thomas Paine and others.

This has been, in a sense, a message of ours for many years. And here at DB, we’ve regularly compared the output of the Gutenberg Press and its revolutionary influence to the Internet. The Economist is about 10 years late in joining the party.

Even so, I think The Economist is making the wrong comparison and doing it on purpose. Blogs and websites are a far more appropriate comparison to the Gutenberg Press than “social media.”

There is likely a reason that The Economist, a power elite mouthpiece, wants to talk up social media. Here’s the beginning of an article from Global Research written way back in March 2009, when Facebook only had 20 million users but was well on its way to success:

Facebook – the CIA conspiracy … Facebook has 20 million users worldwide, is worth billions of dollars and, if internet sources are to be believed, was started by the CIA....

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

Source: Tech Dirt

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous. A few weeks back, we noted that Senators Amy Klobuchar, John Cornyn and Christopher Coons had proposed a new bill that was designed to make “streaming” infringing material a felony. At the time, the actual text of the bill wasn’t available, but we assumed, naturally, that it would just extend “public performance” rights to section 506a of the Copyright Act.

Supporters of this bill claim that all it’s really doing is harmonizing US copyright law’s civil and criminal sections. After all, the rights afforded under copyright law in civil cases cover a list of rights: reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works or perform the work. The rules for criminal infringement only cover reproducing and distributing — but not performing. So, supporters claim, all this does is “harmonize” copyright law and bring the criminal side into line with the civil side by adding “performance rights” to the list of things.

If only it were that simple. But, of course, it’s not. First of all, despite claims to the contrary, there’s a damn good reason why Congress did not include performance rights as a criminal/felony issue: because who would have thought that it would be a criminal act to perform a work without permission?...

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

Source: FOX News

But someone else was listening in – Egypt’s security service.

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

As you might have noticed, my “Social Networking” category has taken on a life of it’s own!  I changed it to reflect the original definition of social networking and it seems as though some of my readers are noticing!  Today, I received an email from a known casting agency seeking dumpster divers, food scavengers and bartering fans for a new cable docu-reality series.  It seems that with the rising popularity of shows like American Pickers and the various auction/pawn shop shows, this is a natural progression.

This is what social networking is about.  They have a need and I have readers who fit that need.   Other examples of the new Networking category include the ‘Social Showcase’ – displaying local artisans, musicians, DIY’ers, models and more!  If you would like to be considered for the Showcase and have a product, idea or service that could benefit from being read by over 100,000 people each month, send me an email on the ‘About | Contact’ page!

All-new Docu-Reality Series Seeking People who eat for free!

Do you get a thrill out of spending little to no money on food?  Do you dedicate your life to scoring meals in clever ways?

...

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

I’ve decided to do something a bit different with my Social Networking category.  I had done away with it for the most part, but decided to revive it in a new form.  Instead of focusing on news and politics as it relates to social networking sites, I’ve decided to use it as the name implies – networking.  When social networking really debuted, it was intended to connect people with similar networks – or circles.  It was designed to help people move up in the world or put others in touch with someone that could help.  It connected photographers with models, technicians to people with problems and managers to employees.

I am going to pick random people, projects and events to showcase and hopefully help their cause or product.  As cliche as it sounds, I got into police work due to my passion for helping others.  Maybe this will help some people out in this tough economy!?

________________

Suggest a person that deserves attention, needs some networking or might benefit from 10,000 people seeing his or her product, service or talents....

TruthisTreason.net – Kevin Hayden

I’ve decided to do something a bit different with my Social Networking category.  I had done away with it for the most part, but decided to revive it in a new form.  Instead of focusing on news and politics as it relates to social networking sites, I’ve decided to use it as the name implies – networking.  When social networking really debuted, it was intended to connect people with similar networks – or circles.  It was designed to help people move up in the world or put others in touch with someone that could help.  It connected photographers with models, technicians to people with problems and managers to employees.

I am going to pick random people, projects and events to showcase and hopefully help their cause or product.  As cliche as it sounds, I got into police work due to my passion for helping others.  Maybe this will help some people out in this tough economy!

Today’s Showcased ‘Person, Place or Thing’

Irish Linen Pillow with Hand-printed Phoenix

Today’s item comes from www.Etsy.com seller Bamilla.

She has it listed at $32.00 with several more images at the above link. 

Irish linen has a very rich feel....

Source: Activist Post

The US State Department has begun sending Twitter messages to Iranians, alluding to the “historic role” social media have played in mass protests against Iran’s 2009 disputed presidential polls.

The Twitter feeds began Sunday as US officials accused Iran of hypocrisy by supporting the anti-government revolt in Egypt but seeking to prevent anti-government demonstrations in Iran.

Hayden’s Note:

Gee, imagine that.  The State Department is trying to stir up problems and create drama in Iran.  Pretty bold of them to do it so openly on Twitter.  But, that’s a sign of the times we’re in.  The intelligence and defense community can openly taunt other countries, on social media and get away with it.  This is a blatant attempt to create another “color-coded revolution.”

On the Twitter account, USAdarFarsi, the State Department said it “recognizes historic role of social media among Iranians We want to join in your conversations.”

In another Tweet, the State Department said: “Iran has shown that the activities it praised Egyptians for it sees as illegal, illegitimate for its own people.”

In a third Tweet, it said “US calls on Iran to allow people to enjoy same universal rights to peacefully assemble, demonstrate as in Cairo.”

In Tehran, riot police on Monday fired tear gas and shot paintballs at protesters who turned what they said was a Tehran rally in support of Arab revolts into an anti-government demonstration, witnesses said....

Source:Telegraph

Internet providers were shut down and Facebook accounts deleted across Algeria on Saturday as thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were arrested in violent street demonstrations.

Plastic bullets and tear gas were used to try and disperse large crowds in major cities and towns, with 30,000 riot police taking to the streets in Algiers alone.

There were also reports of journalists being targeted by state-sponsored thugs to stop reports of the disturbances being broadcast to the outside world.

But it was the government attack on the internet which was of particular significance to those calling for an end to President Abdelaziz Boutifleka’s repressive regime.

Source: Silicon Republic

In what has to be the ultimate irony or simply bad timing, the United States is in the midst of revisiting the creation of an internet kill switch to defend against cyber warfare just as Egypt on Friday moved to block internet access to stem free speech.

Source: Telegraph - via Cryptogon.com

The Egyptian government’s action is unprecedented in the history of the internet. Countries such as China, Iran, Thailand and Tunisia have cut off access to news websites and social networking services during periods of unrest, as Egypt did when it cut off Facebook and Twitter earlier this week.

The ongoing attempt by the Egyptian government to shut down all online communication is, however, a new phenomenon. It not only prevents ordinary Egyptian internet users from accessing any websites, it cripples Tor, an anti-censorship tool that technical experts and activists were using to circumvent the Facebook and Twitter blocks.

The action puts Egypt, temporarily at least, in the company of North Korea, which has never allowed its citizens access to the internet.

Continue reading article here -

Hayden’s Note:

In other news, Obama’s Internet ‘Kill Switch’ Bill Will Return Later This Year....

Source: The Atlantic

TruthisTreason.net

Summary:

Facebook’s security team opens up, shedding light on a revolution that could become a parable for Internet activism. Quoting: ‘After more than ten days of intensive investigation and study, Facebook’s security team realized something very, very bad was going on. The country’s Internet service providers were running a malicious piece of code that was recording users’ login information when they went to sites like Facebook. By January 5, it was clear that an entire country’s worth of passwords were in the process of being stolen right in the midst of the greatest political upheaval in two decades. Sullivan and his team decided they needed a country-level solution — and fast. Though Sullivan said Facebook has encountered a wide variety of security problems and been involved in various political situations, they’d never seen anything like what was happening in Tunisia.’

-

More of the story:

It was on Christmas Day that Facebook’s Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan first noticed strange things going on in Tunisia. Reports started to trickle in that political-protest pages were being hacked....

Source: Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. halted an offering of Facebook Inc. shares to U.S. investors on concern that “intense media attention” on the deal may violate rules limiting marketing of private securities.

Instead, the sale, first reported Jan. 2, will be restricted to non-U.S. investors, the New York-based bank said in an e-mailed statement today. Goldman Sachs and funds it manages had agreed to buy $450 million of closely held Facebook before the bank began seeking investors.

“Goldman Sachs concluded that the level of media attention might not be consistent with the proper completion of a U.S. private placement under U.S. law,” it said in the statement. The move “was based on the sole judgment of Goldman Sachs and was not required or requested by any other party.”

Goldman Sachs, the biggest U.S. securities firm before converting to a bank in 2008, had been trying to sell as much as $1.5 billion in Facebook shares to investors inside and outside the U.S. before making the change announced today. The company didn’t say whether it still expects to raise that amount....

Source: TorrentFreak

The domain seizures by the United States authorities in recent days and upcoming legislation that could make similar takeovers even easier in the future, have inspired a group of enthusiasts to come up with a new, decentralized and BitTorrent-powered DNS system. This system will exchange DNS information through peer-to-peer transfers and will work with a new .p2p domain extension.

In a direct response to the domain seizures by US authorities during the last few days, a group of established enthusiasts have started working on a DNS system that can’t be touched by any governmental institution.

Ironically, considering the seizure of the Torrent-Finder meta-search engine domain, the new DNS system will be partly powered by BitTorrent.

In recent months, global anti-piracy efforts have increasingly focused on seizing domains of allegedly infringing sites. In the United States the proposed COICA bill is explicitly aimed at increasing the government’s censorship powers, but seizing a domain name is already quite easy, as illustrated by ICE and Department of Justice actions last weekend and earlier this year.

For governments it is apparently quite easy to take over the DNS entries of domains, not least because several top level domains are managed by US-based corporations such as VeriSign, who work closely together with the US Department of Commerce....

Source: Reuters

News Corp is open to a sale of beleaguered MySpace after a relaunch of the social network as an entertainment site, Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey told Reuters.

A successful revamp of MySpace — still visited by around 60 million people in October, according to comScore — could possibly pave the way for a sale.

A sale or partnership are two of a number of options the company would consider for the once valuable social network site, which has suffered in the face of competition from new hot sites like Facebook, which is visited by about 151 million people monthly, and Twitter.

“There are opportunities here to do 20 things (with MySpace) but that doesn’t mean you’re going to do any of the 20. If there’s something there that makes sense you ought to think about it,” said Carey.

MySpace has been the subject of recent speculation that News Corp is seeking to sell the site or partner with other digital media companies such as Yahoo and AOL Inc.

Carey said that a potential merger “would have been largely a pretty tough sale process” before the revamp....

Kevin Hayden

TruthisTreason.net

I would like to announce the beta opening of my newest endeavor, the Social Patriot.

Here’s a little bit about it -

Do you avoid social networking due to privacy concerns?  Wondering who’s looking at your data?  Or are you simply tired of the usual choices and looking for something that combines the best parts of Facebook updates, Twitter headlines and regular forums?

Social Patriot offers an escape from the privacy problems of the big sites while still connecting you with friends, status updates, subject tags, integrated discussion forums, private groups and more.

This social media effort is being supported by www.TruthisTreason.net in order to provide a new way of networking.  Social networking is a very powerful tool for promoting local events, news articles, blogs, online radio shows, documentaries or simply connecting with like-minded friends.

Social Patriot was created for the grassroots effort… but unlike many of the recent “movements,” this site will remain independent with a steadfast focus on privacy, freedom, discussion and furthering the cause of Liberty.

Please join me for a “soft opening” throughout the weekend.  It’s still technically in beta mode, but I think I’ve worked all of the bugs and kinks out.  Now I simply need a stress test to see how it handles lots of people, postings, discussions, forums and everything else!...

Source: PhysOrg

Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed software for mobile phones that can track your facial features in real-time. Eventually it will be able to tell who the user is, where they are looking and even how they are feeling.

The method is believed to be unrivalled for speed and accuracy and could lead to facial recognition replacing passwords and PIN numbers to log into internet sites from a mobile phone.“Existing mobile face trackers give only an approximate position and scale of the face,” said Dr. Phil Tresadern, lead researcher on the project. “Our model runs in real-time and accurately tracks a number of landmarks on and around the face such as the eyes, nose, mouth and jaw line.”A mobile phone with a camera on the front captures a video of your face and tracks twenty-two facial features. This can make face recognition more accurate, and has great potential for novel ways of interacting with your phone.”

Originally intended as part of a face- and voice-verification system for access to mobile internet applications such as email, social networking and online banking, alternative uses for the device could include fun applications that, for instance, attach virtual objects to the user’s face as they move around....